Many Wolfpack fans are familiar with names like Daniel Evans, Brandon Costner and Kay Yow. There is another group of athletes, however, that take some of the spotlight this time of year.
They go by names like Team Chinese, If You Scared Go To Church, and the formidable Sweet Musty Lemurnad Boys. With 185 teams and almost 2,000 players, intramural flag football is one of the biggest on-campus activities at N.C. State.
The season will wrap up tonight on the Lower Miller Fields with the men’s open championship at 7 p.m., followed by the men’s all-campus championships.
With 88 teams, men’s open is the largest league by far in the flag football program. The men’s open championship will be decided between G.U.T.S. and The Lawnmowers. G.U.T.S., the two-time defending men’s open champions, and last year’s all-campus champions, enter this game 8-0, having given up just 13 points all season. Rick Palmieri, the coordinator of Intramural Sports, said it is rare for a team to repeat given such a large field.
“These guys have won the past couple of years,” Palmieri said. “When you have a bracket of probably around 100 teams, that is a difficult task. We haven’t had repeat men’s open champions since I’ve been here, and I have been here since I was first a student in ’99.”
Experience is not an issue for G.U.T.S. According to senior captain Todd Horton, the teams youngest players are in their third season of intramural football. Horton himself is playing in his fifth season. When he is not playing, Horton works as a referee for Campus Recreation. He said his familiarity with the game is an asset for his team.
“I’ve probably seen hundreds of flag football games, if not more than that,” Horton said. “Coming into each game, you can’t really have any expectations. We just go out there and adjust to the other team and what they give us. Then, we just come out and play.”
The T-Town Titans, the residence league champion, and Pi Kappa Alpha Gold, the fraternity league champion, will meet at 6 p.m., and the winner between these two will face the men’s open winner to determine the all-campus champion.
Although men’s open draws from a much larger pool of teams, the fraternity league has had a history of success in the all-campus game. Two years ago, Pi Kappa Alpha beat G.U.T.S., which was known then as BoomChittyChitty to take the all-campus title. Palmieri said there is no difference in skill between the top fraternity and top men’s open teams.
“Your top-tier fraternity teams and your top tier men’s open teams are probably around the same level,” Palmieri said. “I don’t know that you could really distinguish between the two in terms of competitiveness.”
“Kutta Condition” took down the Graduate/Faculty title, while UNOfficial was the co-rec champion.
Senior Megan Stout, wide receiver for UNOfficial, said this is the team’s fifth straight championship and the third with her on the squad. She said the most important part of a championship co-rec team is having talented girls.
“Really, in the co-rec, it’s all about the girls. We have really athletic, talented girls that can catch the ball,” Stout said. “I just really enjoy the sport. It’s fun, and it’s exciting because you get to play with guys too. So you really get to challenge yourself.”
The winners of the men’s and women’s all-campus games, as well as the co-rec champion, will be invited to attend the state tournament in Wilmington later this month. Last year, G.U.T.S. attended the tournament when it was held in Charlotte. Adam Tesh, a senior in communication and the team’s starting linebacker, said the experience of going to an off-campus tournament has been really helpful in this season’s path to the championship.
“Play calling is a big part of our success,” Tesh said. “We’ve done the regional tournaments off-campus, so we’ve gotten to see plays that everybody in the state is doing. We have plays that people here have never seen before.”
